Petrarch and Wyatt Compared

In the world of poesy, imitation occurs at every turn. Many poets will take an original form of poetry and copy the style. This can be said about Sir Thomas Wyatt who essays to mimic Petrarchs form when the symbols, tone, discovers, rhyme, and pose in Wyatts poem Whoso list to hunt are compared to Petrarchs rhyme 190 it becomes apparent that he failed to embody the essence of Petrarch in his writing. Symbolism plays a large role in most poems. A pure-white doe in an emerald glade/Appeared to me, with two antlers of gold (Petrarch pulls 1-2) is a perfect example of symbolism is poetry.Petrarch is not actually talking about a white deer with opulent antlers, hes talking about a beautiful woman with golden hair. Wyatt also uses a deer as a symbol Whoso list to hunt, I ac loveledge where is an hind (Wyatt line 1) a hind is a deer and Wyatt is also using the deer as a symbol for a woman. This is the first similarity, or imitation, between Wyatt and Petrarch.The second symbolism th e two poems share is the collar around the does neck. In Petrarchs poem it says I spied on her neck, No one dares touch me,/sculpturesque in topaz and diamond stones,/For Caesar wills I should always run free. (Petrarch lines 9-11). In Wyatts poem it says And graven in diamonds in letters plain/ in that respect is written, her join neck round about,/Noli me tangere, for Caesars I am,/And wild to hold, though I seem tame (Wyatt lines 11-14). The two are similar only in the idea of a collar and Caesar. Petrarchs does collar claims she is free while Wyatts does collar claims she is property. Although many strive to assimilate famous poets, sometimes they fall flat. Such is the case of Sir Thomas Wyatts attempt to parallel Petrarchs tone.In Petrarchs Rime 190, the tone is reverence towards a womans purity and beauty in the lines A snow white doe in an emerald glade/To me appeared, with antlers soft of gold (Petrarch lines 5-8). Wyatts tone is more than of sexual desire for an unavail able good looking woman who isnt necessarily pure Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind (Wyatt line 1) hints that this woman is chased by a large amount of men for her looks (also hinting that she isnt pure) But as for me, helasI may no more shows Wyatts sexual desire for this woman and his disappointment in her unavailability to him. Petrarchs woman is a pure and beautiful woman while Wyatts is a sexy, impure temptress. other aspect Wyatt did not compare to Petrarch is optical imagery. Petrarch has a very beautiful way of using visual images which he proves with the lines one through four A snow white doe in an emerald glade/To me appeared, with antlers soft of gold,/And leapt two streams, under a laurels shade,/ come sunrise, in the winters bitter cold. (Petrarch lines 1-4).The closest visual image in Wyatts version is And graven in diamonds in letters plain (Wyatt line 11) which is still very far away from being good visual imagery. Rhyme is a defining point of Petrarchs p oetry with a rhyme scheme of abba abba cde cde. Wyatt kept the rhyme scheme of the octave except changed the sestet to cdd cee. There is written, her fair neck round about,/Noli me tangere, for Caesars I am,/And wild to hold, though I seem tame. (Wyatt line 12-14) is an example of the changed rhyme scheme. Wyatt also resorted to eye-rhyme which is also shown in the commendation for the words am and tame.Petrarchs poems held firm to the original rhyme scheme of abba abba cde cde and each rhyme is a complete rhyme rather than Wyatts lazy eye-rhyming. Petrarchs rhyme scheme, however, is closely always only visible in the Italian form and it loses rhyme scheme when translated into English. Una candida cerva lerba/Verde mapparve, con duo corna doro/Fra due riviere, allombra dun alloro,/Levando l sole, a la stagione ascerba (Petrarch line 1-4) this Italian passage from the poem follows the abba format of rhyming with perfect rhymes which his whole poem follows without using a single ey e-rhyme.The setting of Petrarchs Rime 190 is attractively described in the very first stanza A snow white doe in an emerald glade/To me appeared, with antlers soft of gold,/And leapt two streams, under a laurels shade,/Near sunrise, in the winters bitter cold. (Petrarch lines 1-4). The reader automatically knows that the poem takes place in a forest with two streams. On the other hand, Wyatts poem has no setting to show for. There are almost no descriptive aspects of his poem. After analyzing these five aspects of poetry, it becomes clear that Wyatts imitation of Petrarch only goes so deep. Wyatt merely used Petrarchs ideas but failed to perfect Petrarchs unique and beautiful language where Petrarch shows beauty, Wyatt shows nothing. Wyatt took a pure form and warped it into something not as good as the original.